Bravo Two:Endive Wombat: What a farking idiot. I mean...I...I...I'm at a loss for words...

The average skunk is about 8"-10" tall, whereas the average 9 year old girl is over 48" (4ft).

How is it even possible to mistake a woodland critter from a 4 foot tall child?

This man needs to never be around anything more pointy than a butter knife.

Wasn't there, didn't see it, but if she was on all fours, outside of the house where it was dark, crawling around? You see black fur and a white stripe, crawling around, and have the shape obscured due to the lack of light and I'd bet you'd have a hard time telling.

If it was a girl running around on two legs in bright light, however, the guy's an idiot.

She was playing outside at a distance from the house, on a hillside. It was dark outside and she was wearing a black costume with a black hat that had a white feather on it.

Her body blended into the darkness. What the guy's family saw was a white tuft of fur (feather, actually) surrounded by black (the hat). The guy was told by his mother to go get his gun and shoot the skunk. He did so without getting near. His mother shined a flashlight at the "skunk" (the hat with feather) and he fired. He actually missed the "skunk" (her HEAD) and hit her lower down.

So no-- He didn't mistake a small child in a skunk costume for a skunk. He mistook a PART of a black and white costume being worn in the dark for a skunk, as did his mother.

Now, the stupid thing is that people who keep guns around the house feel the need to shoot every critter that wanders near their house. A skunk foraging on a hill near your house isn't a threat. You don't need to shoot it with a shotgun.

I should hope this incident teaches them to hold off on shooting at animals in the dark for shiats and giggles.

So you have a family bonfire at night with children who are running around playing, and you decide you need to shoot a skunk - off in the distance, at night when children are known to be running around playing?

weapon13:Even if she was on all fours, that would still make her look like a HUGE farking skunk. Maybe the guy got freaked out by the size of the skunk overlord and shot it? Who knows.

Wouldn't be the first time. I've seen some monstrous farking raccoons, and the amount of damage they can do to your house and grounds (along with skunks who chew on things), they generally are fair game to get shot.

Likewise with porcupines. They tend to chew on wood siding on houses and tear things up quite a bit. See one, shoot one.

My brother and I needed to sight in our deer rifles in preparation for the upcoming season. We were all on the family hunting property and a whole bunch of relatives, young and old, were at The only campsite. Everyone was present and accounted. We silenced all the chit-chatter and told EVERYONE that we were going about 1/4 mile down the road and specifically why. On the pass, opposite of the campsite is a big hill about 75 yards from the road that's perfect and safe for target shooting. After driving 1/4 mile, my brother and I turned the car to the right and parked about 20 yards off the road, set up targets, and started shooting by laying rifles on and leaning over the passenger-side hood of the car. At no point were we pointing our rifles anywhere within 240 degrees swing of the direction of camp nor over any road or path. Safety First.

Now one of our cousins there must have life-threatening levels of ADHD or his parents haven't instilled in him the discipline he so desperately needs because throughout the weekend he had been doing a very bad job of obeying us adults, including his parents. And they had bought him one of those mini dirt bikes and he had been tearing around all weekend. We explicitly told all the children they ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT leave camp and go down the road until we returned. So what did the kid do? He got on his bike and started heading straight towards us. His useless parents hollered at him not to go down the road, he pretended he couldn't hear them, and continued anyways.

For several minutes we've been firing our rifles at targets at the hill's base. Ww were also wearing powerful (35 dB) earmuffs so we could barely hear anything. Left eye is closed and the right eye is tucked in front of the scope, so field of vision is very limited. Through sheer luck, my brother hears the kid's dirt bike as he comes up behind us. My brother screamed as loud as he could, "STOP GODDAMNIT STOP!!!" I take my finger off the trigger and open my left eye just as the kid passes on the rear side of the car, turns off the road, and rides left-to-right into the active firing range right in front of us. I see his motocross helmet's graphics flash and stop in my right eye optic as I start to lift up the rifle. Ear muffs are off now, rifles are pointing up, and the kid yells, "HAI GUYZ! What's goin' on here?!" My brother screams a vile stream of obscenities at the kid. I stand there unable to speak as the gravity of the situation starts to sink in. He leaves by turning around and riding BACK across the firing range a second time. Shooting is over. We go back and tell his parents how close their dipshiat of a son was to having his head blown off. Later, he received styles of discipline from three generations.

Fubini:Kome: A lot of morons being morons with a gun end up causing tragic but avoidable accidents like this one.

The sad truth is that you can be 100% responsible with a gun and still end up with accidents. It's the same way you can be 100% responsible with a car and still end up with accidents. I'm not trying to excuse or condone what this guy did, but it's simply not true that literally every firearms accident is due to someone being irresponsible.

There are about 500 accidental deaths each year in the US, and off the top of my head I want to say the chance of fatality there is about 25%, so that implies something like 2000 firearms accidents total each year. Surely many of those are due to carelessness and improper handling. But, just as surely, some of those are from people behaving responsibly and are truly accidental.

that's why I wouldn't call this an accident.

yes, you can do everything right and still have an accident.

this guy got his firearm, knew it was loaded, aimed at his target, pulled the trigger, and shot what he was aiming at. how is that an accident?

oh, he didn't know he was aiming at a girl. so if I set fire to my neighbors' house, I can say the loss of any stuff in the house is an accident? hey, I don't know what stuff my neighbors have in their house.

or maybe it's reasonable to expect if I set fire to a house, stuff inside that house will also burn, and it doesn't matter what I know about that stuff.

he knew he was shooting something, and knew he hadn't made an effort to find out what he was shooting. so how is this an"accident"?

Ned Stark:Bravo Two: Endive Wombat: What a farking idiot. I mean...I...I...I'm at a loss for words...

The average skunk is about 8"-10" tall, whereas the average 9 year old girl is over 48" (4ft).

How is it even possible to mistake a woodland critter from a 4 foot tall child?

This man needs to never be around anything more pointy than a butter knife.

Wasn't there, didn't see it, but if she was on all fours, outside of the house where it was dark, crawling around? You see black fur and a white stripe, crawling around, and have the shape obscured due to the lack of light and I'd bet you'd have a hard time telling.

If it was a girl running around on two legs in bright light, however, the guy's an idiot.

Why would you fire a weapon at something 'obscured' by low light?

This. Why the fark would you even consider shooting into the dark. Gun nuts will white knight any idiot that has a gun.

Fubini:The major problem here is that he shot at something without being able to 100% identify it, but skunks are nocturnal animals... so if you really want to hunt them it's going to have to be in the dusk or evening. This sounds a lot more like a tragic but avoidable accident (if anyone had exercised any common sense) rather than a moron being a moron with a gun.

Shooting at something you can't 100% identify is a moron being a moron with a gun unless you're in a farking warzone laying down cover fire.

Fubini:This sounds a lot more like a tragic but avoidable accident (if anyone had exercised any common sense) rather than a moron being a moron with a gun.

I think you inadvertently laid one rose petal too many in this case. I grew up on a street with plenty of "let's shoot stuff in our backyard" types, and not a single one of them would have tolerated some lamebrain firing a shotgun, at night, in known proximity of children, unless a grizzly bear and the entire Red Army was in their midst.

Fubini:Endive Wombat: But a 4 foot long skunk? Perhaps 6 feet if we are including her cute little tale? Add to that a party where you have drunken guests and children playing all over the property and the best idea you've got is to pop out your gun and just start shooting? Come on!!!

I could see it- in some parts of the country at some parties they go shoot in the backyard for fun. Shooting a skunk wouldn't be out of line at all, especially if you know that it's been territorial or aggressive lately. Like others have said, skunks are about as bad as rabbits when it comes to reproduction- I don't even live in the country but smelling a dead skunk that's been hit by a car is at least a weekly occurrence.

The major problem here is that he shot at something without being able to 100% identify it, but skunks are nocturnal animals... so if you really want to hunt them it's going to have to be in the dusk or evening. This sounds a lot more like a tragic but avoidable accident (if anyone had exercised any common sense) rather than a moron being a moron with a gun.

This. Again, don't condone what the guy did, just said I can understand how it happened.

Endive Wombat:But a 4 foot long skunk? Perhaps 6 feet if we are including her cute little tale? Add to that a party where you have drunken guests and children playing all over the property and the best idea you've got is to pop out your gun and just start shooting? Come on!!!

I could see it- in some parts of the country at some parties they go shoot in the backyard for fun. Shooting a skunk wouldn't be out of line at all, especially if you know that it's been territorial or aggressive lately. Like others have said, skunks are about as bad as rabbits when it comes to reproduction- I don't even live in the country but smelling a dead skunk that's been hit by a car is at least a weekly occurrence.

The major problem here is that he shot at something without being able to 100% identify it, but skunks are nocturnal animals... so if you really want to hunt them it's going to have to be in the dusk or evening. This sounds a lot more like a tragic but avoidable accident (if anyone had exercised any common sense) rather than a moron being a moron with a gun.

Bravo Two:Endive Wombat: What a farking idiot. I mean...I...I...I'm at a loss for words...

The average skunk is about 8"-10" tall, whereas the average 9 year old girl is over 48" (4ft).

How is it even possible to mistake a woodland critter from a 4 foot tall child?

This man needs to never be around anything more pointy than a butter knife.

Wasn't there, didn't see it, but if she was on all fours, outside of the house where it was dark, crawling around? You see black fur and a white stripe, crawling around, and have the shape obscured due to the lack of light and I'd bet you'd have a hard time telling.

If it was a girl running around on two legs in bright light, however, the guy's an idiot.

But a 4 foot long skunk? Perhaps 6 feet if we are including her cute little tale? Add to that a party where you have drunken guests and children playing all over the property and the best idea you've got is to pop out your gun and just start shooting? Come on!!!

Bravo Two:Ned Stark: Bravo Two: Endive Wombat: What a farking idiot. I mean...I...I...I'm at a loss for words...

The average skunk is about 8"-10" tall, whereas the average 9 year old girl is over 48" (4ft).

How is it even possible to mistake a woodland critter from a 4 foot tall child?

This man needs to never be around anything more pointy than a butter knife.

Wasn't there, didn't see it, but if she was on all fours, outside of the house where it was dark, crawling around? You see black fur and a white stripe, crawling around, and have the shape obscured due to the lack of light and I'd bet you'd have a hard time telling.

If it was a girl running around on two legs in bright light, however, the guy's an idiot.

Why would you fire a weapon at something 'obscured' by low light?

Because you're an idiot? Didn't say it was smart, just said I can understand how it could happen. Then again, hunting things like coyotes who are primarily nocturnal, you rely a lot on good night vision or moonlight and sometimes you don't get a perfectly clear view of your target.

"Shoot first and verify target afterwards" is the crux of the entire farking problem and is not something we want to encourage. "Oh, he thought his target was actually something else? That's ok then, no problem. Could happen to anyone!"

Bravo Two:Endive Wombat: What a farking idiot. I mean...I...I...I'm at a loss for words...

The average skunk is about 8"-10" tall, whereas the average 9 year old girl is over 48" (4ft).

How is it even possible to mistake a woodland critter from a 4 foot tall child?

This man needs to never be around anything more pointy than a butter knife.

Wasn't there, didn't see it, but if she was on all fours, outside of the house where it was dark, crawling around? You see black fur and a white stripe, crawling around, and have the shape obscured due to the lack of light and I'd bet you'd have a hard time telling.

evilboyevil:A below average intelligence sociopath. He did it on a whim and thought he had an excuse.

I don't know, I'm a lot more sympathetic after reading the more detailed article. He wasn't the only one involved in shooting her. She was playing on a hill in the distance (maybe even obscured by bushes?), not standing right in front of him.

I'm leaning towards blaming the kids parents on this one. People in rural Pennsylvania shoot skunks all the time. Otherwise they'd be overrun with them. Letting your kid dress like one is irresponsible, especially if you're going to a party with family members (who you presumably know well enough) who are in the habit of shooting said skunks.

That said, the party host (the shooter's mother, and the one who told him to do the shooting) should be aware of what costumes her guests are wearing, and should have thought twice that the skunk-like animal in their backyard might actually be a human in a skunk costume. That's either bad party etiquette on her part for not socializing with the guests, or on the girls parents' part for not checking in upon arrival.

I actually LOLed at the thought that "What if it had been a real skunk?" Even if it had been a real skunk, this idiot thought it would be a good idea to splatter the critter with a bunch of kids around? Perforated stink bag + traumatized kids = awesome?

The girl, whose name has not been released, was said to have been playing on a hillside when the home's owner, Janet Grant, mistook her for the noxious pest.Police said Grant then asked her son, Thomas Grant, who police said was the victim's cousin, to shoot the pest.

According to the statement, Grant then retrieved a shotgun from the home. While his mother shined a flashlight at what they believed was a skunk, Thomas fired the gun, striking the still unidentified girl in the shoulder and abdomen.

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Still a little retarded, but definitely makes more sense.

vpb:Aarontology: I know people who've gotten harsher punishments for possession.

Well, yes, this guy was defending us from tyranny. Those people are dangerous drug fiends.

Really though, aren't people who are careless with guns more dangerous or as dangerous as militia nuts?

I'd say more dangerous. For the most part the militia nuts just do their little WOLVERINES cosplay thing out in the woods and don't bother anyone and are usually really goddamned responsible with their guns.